1. Field
The present disclosure relates to neutron generators, and more particularly, to nanostructure electrodes for producing ions to be accelerated for neutron generation.
2. Description of Related Art
Neutrons can be used to examine different parameters of geological formations in borehole logging. For oil wells it can report important properties such as the porosity of the soil. Currently many radioactive sources are used in the oil-well logging industry. These generate neutrons in a radioactive decay. A common material used is an americium-beryllium source. Radiological source replacement programs have the goal to reduce the amount of radioactive sources and replace them with, for example, neutron generators to lower the risk of proliferation and contamination of oil wells and the environment in general as well as reducing health risks for the workers using radioactive sources at the moment. To replace e.g. americium-beryllium sources, neutrons with a similar energy spectrum as the radioactive sources have to be produced. Deuterium and tritium fusion reactions can for example be used for this purpose. Here, deuterium and tritium gas is ionized, accelerated and then interacts with a target that is loaded with, for example, deuterium or tritium. For oil-well logging applications the ion source needs to be small and energy efficient. Current sources used, for example, are Penning sources. Here, a higher electron current is used to ionize gas.
Thus, a new approach of producing high-energy neutrons that is more efficient, smaller in size and has a longer lifetime than current sources is desired. Additionally, the production of neutron with energy greater than 2.5 MeV without the use of tritium would be advantageous.